The Bible

News about The Bible, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Apr. 16, 2015

Republicans in Tennessee House vote to make the Bible the official state book, disregarding constitutional concerns and the advice of party's leadership. MORE

Dec. 19, 2014

Ken Johnson Critic's Notebook column looks at current exhibitions of two most celebrated examples of medieval Bibles; notes that Crusader Bible, made in Paris in 1240s and on view at Morgan Library & Museum, is vastly different from 12th-century tome Winchester Bible, which is on display at Metropolitan Museum of Art. MORE

Jul. 17, 2014

Oklahoma-based Green family, which owns Hobby Lobby chain, is planning to build Bible museum on site of Washington Design Center near National Mall; proposed museum is scheduled to open in 2017, and raises concerns it will be more about evangelizing than educating. MORE

Feb. 11, 2014

Archaeologists have used radiocarbon dating to determine that camels were first domesticated in Israel in last third of 10th century BC, centuries after the Bible mentions them living there; anachronisms are telling evidence that Bible was written or edited long after events it narrates and is not always reliable source of history. MORE

Dec. 24, 2013

Joe Nocera Op-Ed column examines A New New Testament, revised text published by Prof Hal Taussig and other academics which includes wealth of early Christian testaments that later came to be regarded as heresy; notes that texts offer several new perspectives on the life of Jesus, including an emphasis on the female voice that is absent from the traditional Bible. MORE

Jul. 27, 2013

LifeChurch.tv, one of nation’s largest and most technologically advanced evangelical churches, has developed wildly successful free Bible app for millions of readers around the world; YouVersion is changing how, where and when people read the Bible, with over 600 Bible translations in more than 400 languages; app is nondenominational, including versions embraced by Catholics, Russian Orthodox and Messianic Jews. MORE

Jun. 22, 2013

Mark Oppenheimer Beliefs column notes that Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States, has been criticized for her liberal and negative interpretation of biblical text about a slave woman; controversy comes at time when biblical interpretation is especially important for Episcopal Church, which is locked between liberal and conservative members. MORE

Mar. 30, 2013

Mark Oppenheimer Beliefs column profiles Candice McKay, book restorer who runs company Book Doctor in Dallas; notes most of her projects are repairing old family bibles, many of which have been marked up by regular churchgoers or have Palm Sunday fronds stuck in them. MORE

Dec. 14, 2012

Op-Ed article by anthropology professor T M Luhrmann examines ways in which using imagination to enrich literal text of the Bible helps some Christians to hang on to their faith in God when they are surrounded by secular world; observes that commitment to literal truth of bible can be intensively creative process. MORE

Jun. 24, 2012

Chuck Klosterman The Ethicist column answers questions about whether to tell one's mother that she has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, joining a Bible-study group while not being religious and cheating on tests. MORE

Apr. 17, 2012

British Library acquires manuscript copy of the Gospel of John, called the St Cuthbert Gospel, for $14 million; gospel is the oldest European book to survive fully intact. MORE